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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Chinese-Style Almond Cookies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Almost everyone is familiar with the almond cookies that are served in Chinese restaurants. Did you know they are not Chinese? They originated in the West, and while they have been adopted by the Chinese, they are a creation of American-Chinese restaurants that spread, with affluence, back to the East. While they love sweetness, the Chinese are more likely to combine sweet with savory rather than serve a separate course of each. These days you will find Chinese bakeries and the desserts they sell are a testament to the ready acceptance of sweets by the Chinese people. The bakeries are important because most Chinese homes don't have an oven, so they can't do their own baking. I'm not the person you want to teach you the ins and outs of moon cakes, but I can walk you through the very simple steps required to make Chinese-style almond cookies. This is a lovely recipe to have in your arsenal and the cookies are truly simple to make. The recipe was created by Nancie McDermott. Here's how it's done.Chinese Almond Cookies...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Directions:1) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk or sift to combine. Set aside.2) Combine butter, shortening, egg, sugar and almond extract in another medium-sized bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until all ingredients are combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.3) Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir with a wooden spoon until everything comes together into a smooth dough. Dough is easier to shape when cold. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.5) Divide dough into two cylinders. If you opt to make 16 large cookies, roll each cylinder to a diameter of 2 inches. To make 32 smaller cookies, roll each cylinder to a diameter of 1-1/4 inches. Cut each cylinder into rounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, positioning them about 2-inches apart. Press a whole almond into center of each cookie.4) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheets. When completely cool transfer to a serving dish or an airtight container. Yield 16 large or 32 small cookies.

What a fun post, I enjoyed the story and the cookies are going to be a surprise for my family. On Christmas Eve, eighteen years ago, I was too tired to cook so our entire family (g-parents and all) decided to go out. The only restaurant open in our tiny town was a Chinese Buffet. We ran into 4 families that we knew - we've all been there every year since. This year we'll have cookies at home for dessert!

Mary,These look wonderful. We are back in Florida and I have a real kitchen here! Still getting organized with setting up a studio/office/guestroom. Almost all is planned and ordered. And while I am waiting, I will be cooking! Love your recipes.

Mary -- I love these! Here on the prairie, we only have Chinese buffet -- four things at every restaurant -- the soft serve ice cream and the bananas in red something (it's not jello but sort looks like it), these cookies and canned biscuit dough, fried and rolls in sugar (which goes really well with the ice cream!)

Yeap, I think you're right about the cookie! Most of the cookie recipes are actually came from western country. Because there is no butter available in the east, in older days. They only used animals lard for making biscuit & pastry instead.

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